Inspiration From Uncle Johne's Farm

My mother's dad started a farm in a little tiny town in Eastern Washington in the early 1900s. After he died when she was little, my mother's brother, Johne, took over. He was much like a grandpa to me when I was growing up. My mom would take us over to see him and his family a couple times a year. We would have so much fun, chasing chickens, petting horses, staring down cows. Once my cousins, who were all much older than me, let us watch them slaughter a cow. It was pretty exciting. Morbid, I suppose, but it didn't bother me. It definitely explained how all the beef got packaged into those little white packages so neatly from that big slobbery cow in the field.

My Aunt Mary had a great big garden. In fact, I remember there being several great big gardens. We loved to stand in her cellar and count her jars of home-canned goods. She even home cans the chickens! I think her canning has served as inspiration for my own canning hobby. I remember how pretty her jars looked and how much fun it was to pop them open and eat the yummy contents or maybe watch her bake them up into a pie...

I took my kids to see the farm today along with Mom. I decided to take some of my home-canned tuna and salmon for Aunt Mary and my cousin Kay to try. I think Aunt Mary was tickled that I brought her canned goods. She is very elderly now, so Kay does most of the canning, but they still have jars of peaches and cherries and rhubarb and apples...and more. The kids and I ogled the shelves for quite a while, each of them picking out their favorites. Robby liked the apple chips, but Katie wanted to try the Rhubarb sauce.

Finally and of course, we fed the horses. They have three now, all beautiful and strong animals who come right up to the fence to be petted and fed. The kids had a great time offering the different grasses and weeds outside the gate. I love how kids especially will just talk to animals. "How's it goin'?" Robby asked Charlie the horse. The horse snorted a response and tried to get his head through the bars to get more grass. "I'll get that for you," Robby said. Meantime, Katie was busy snuggling up to Bobby the horse. She climbed the bars of the gate, so Bobby put his head on the top rung to be right next to her. She asked him how he liked the farm and then told him about her small town near the ocean. So fun.

I'm glad we got over to experience the farm. Another great life memory.